{"id":30795,"date":"2026-08-04T13:55:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T17:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/?p=30795"},"modified":"2026-08-17T05:59:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T09:59:29","slug":"sea-star-wasting-disease-discovered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/sea-star-wasting-disease-discovered\/30795\/","title":{"rendered":"Starfish in Washington began writhing, losing their arms, and turning into \u201csea sunflowers\u201d after a rare bacterium swept through the water"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first signs of a strange illness in sea star populations emerged off the coast of North America in 2013. Healthy-appearing sea stars then exhibited unusual symptoms; their bodies lost strength<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Lesions turned white on their skin.<\/p>\n

Their arms curled up, came apart, and dropped off<\/strong>. Eventually, some individuals disintegrated into mushy, decaying tissue.<\/p>\n

The event was called one of the biggest marine wildlife epidemics in history.<\/p>\n

No one knew what was making them sick<\/strong> for years.<\/p>\n

A disease that transformed the coastline<\/h2>\n

As a result, the outbreak was named Sea Star Wasting Disease (SSWD). At least twenty different species of sea stars were impacted by SSWD in North America’s Pacific Coast region.<\/p>\n

The reach of the outbreak extended from Alaska to California<\/strong> and heavily damaged local populations.<\/p>\n

One of the most severely hit species is the sunflower sea star. Sunflower sea stars are among the largest sea stars, growing large enough to cover a bike tire. Some have as many as 24 arms.<\/p>\n

Sunflower sea stars help maintain balance within coastal ecosystems. They consume large quantities of sea urchins, which would otherwise eat huge amounts of kelp<\/strong> if left unchecked.<\/p>\n

More than ninety percent of sunflower sea stars vanished in certain parts of the continental United States.<\/p>\n

The sunflower sea star has now been designated critically endangered<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Researchers searched for causes of the epidemic for years. Many believed it was a virus.<\/p>\n

Other researchers investigated possible links between SSWD, rising ocean temperatures, and marine heat waves<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

But none of these hypotheses fully explained why SSWD occurred.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The search continued for more than a decade<\/h2>\n

The mystery continued because SSWD progressed so rapidly. Within just a few days, researchers saw extreme symptoms develop in many<\/strong> infected sea stars.<\/p>\n

They also observed arm twisting, tissue decay, and the overall collapse of the animals’ bodies.<\/p>\n

Because the disease spread so quickly, finding its origin proved extremely challenging<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Samples from animals exhibiting symptoms of SSWD were collected from various locations along the Pacific Coast, according to USGS<\/a>. Tissue samples were examined for numerous diseases.<\/p>\n

Extensive studies still failed to identify the source of the outbreak<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Scientists from around the world, including researchers at the University of Washington<\/a>, joined the effort to determine what caused the outbreak.<\/p>\n

Because the disease occurred across such an extensive range, researchers were able to study diseased sea stars from throughout much of the Pacific Coast<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Later, investigators turned to a different type of sample. Rather than focusing only on tissue samples, researchers evaluated coelomic fluid from infected sea stars.<\/p>\n

Coelomic fluid performs functions similar to blood in sea stars<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

That change revealed patterns that investigators had previously overlooked.<\/p>\n

Years of searching finally produced a breakthrough<\/h2>\n

Following nearly four years of collaborative research from around the world, researchers finally discovered how the epidemic had originated<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Prior to that, researchers examined several other plausible explanations.<\/p>\n

Eventually, they established a link to the cause of SSWD<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The answer was Vibrio pectenicida<\/em><\/h3>\n

By testing experimental models, researchers demonstrated a direct relationship between Vibrio pectenicida<\/em> and SSWD. Earlier investigations had focused on viral agents and other potential explanations.<\/p>\n

However, researchers found unusually high concentrations of the bacterium in<\/strong> coelomic fluid collected from infected sea stars. Experimental confirmation supported that association.<\/p>\n

This marked the end of more than a decade of speculation about the cause of SSWD.<\/p>\n

The discovery identified the bacterial strain<\/strong> responsible for the disease.<\/p>\n

Scientists now had a foundation for developing conservation and recovery strategies for affected<\/a> sea star populations.<\/p>\n

The discovery also removed uncertainty about whether some unidentified environmental influence was responsible<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the sea stars that appeared to melt away were not victims of an unknown environmental force. They were facing a specific bacterium that had gone undetected for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

Along parts of the Pacific Coast, more than 95 percent of it vanished<\/a> after ecosystem changes triggered a collapse in underwater kelp forests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first signs of a strange illness in sea star populations emerged off the coast of North America in 2013. Healthy-appearing sea stars then exhibited unusual symptoms; their bodies lost strength. Lesions turned white on their skin. Their arms curled up, came apart, and dropped off. Eventually, some individuals disintegrated into mushy, decaying tissue. The … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":30984,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_focus_keyword":"sea,star,wasting,disease","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_description":"Researchers identified the bacterium behind Sea Star Wasting Disease, ending a search for the cause of one of the largest marine wildlife epidemics in history.","footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-earth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}